The Strength of the Team in Italian Public Service Broadcasting Sports Documentaries in the Era of Streaming. Two Cases from Basketball and Volleyball

The article aims to examine the role of sports-themed TV documentaries as a genre able to emphasize authorship and aesthetic features in contemporary audiovisual scenario. In particular, the focus will be on Italian production with two recent and relevant cases from Public Service Broadcasting offer that highlight the role of team and “chorality” in sport epic narration: Scugnizzi per sempre (2023) on basketball and Generazione di fenomeni – La miglior squadra di pallavolo del XX secolo (2024) on volleyball. Combining textual analysis and in-depth interviews with professionals involved in the creative process, the article wants to provide a preliminary discussion on national traits of sports documentaries and docuseries in an era where linear and non-linear strategies cohabit shaping narrative structures and repositioning players within the enduringly central discourse of sport in national television storytelling.